Michelle Katics steps down as CEO of BankersLab, Rudy J. Rahardjo to take over

Michelle Katics remain as its chairman as well as CEO of PortfolioQuest

Michelle Katics, co-founder of BankersLab and PortfolioQuest

Michelle Katics, the co-founder and CEO of financial simulation platform BankersLab has announced she has stepped down as CEO of the company.

Rudy J. Rahardjo, who was previously Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)’s general manager and Head of Sales for Banking and Capital Markets for Asia and MENA markets, will succeed her. An official press release stated that Rahardjo “brings deep experience in building partnership channels and driving organic growth in a B2B setting.”

Katics will remain as BankersLab’s chairman and will take on the role as its Innovation Advisor to oversee the product’s growth. She will also continue her role as CEO of its spin-off company PortfolioQuest, an online training startup — where she will be focussing on its global roll-out and scaling of its digital simulation product line.

In a Medium post, Katics delved deep into her reasons for stepping down as CEO of BankersLab.

“It’s clear that my strengths lie in creating “Version 0”, and connecting dots that are not yet apparent to others. I’m a connector, a creator. Having said that, there are others who are better at maintaining and strategically growing subsequent versions,” she said.

“I’ve realised I can be much more effective if I hone my focus on testing use cases of the ways we can combine BankersLab workshops, PortfolioQuest, and other training and assessment innovation tools which are quickly emerging.”

“Once I pored over our options in my head, the decision was obvious. Firing myself from one of our companies made sense. I needed to bring in someone who had complementary superpowers to manage and grow our legacy product line and ensure that clients continue to receive the level of value they expect,” said Katics.

Going forward, Katics said she will be going to Europe to meet regulators, clients, and the fintech ecosystem to work out the RegTech use cases for its simulation platform.

BankersLab’s simulation platform was first launched in 2012, touting itself as the “flight simulator” for fintech and bankers. It uses numerical simulation and gamified classroom to boost the expertise of financial professionals.